


Peridot's Dislikes

by AlexiHollis



Series: Moving [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Child Abuse, Gen, Sick Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13933956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiHollis/pseuds/AlexiHollis
Summary: Peridot gets sent home from school sick.ORGarnet is distracted and accidentally forces Peridot to do something that has consequences on her mental health.





	Peridot's Dislikes

 Peridot didn’t like showers. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t clean, not at all, she just preferred baths, thank you very much. At her old house, her parents didn’t question it, they understood. Garnet didn’t notice the first week of Peridot living with her and, having one leg and all, she physically couldn’t for the past few months. It didn’t take long for Peridot to almost forget the shower head even existed at all, until the latest trip to her doctor.

“I’d say it’s completely healed,” Dr. Maheswaran said, inspecting the stitches. “Has been for a while, but you can never be too careful when it comes to adolescents. Have you bought a shower chair yet?”

Garnet shook her head, “No, I didn’t think about that. Should I?”

Dr. Maheswaran nodded, “They’re incredibly useful and I bet Peridot’s sick of always taking baths.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Peridot laughed nervously. “It’d probably just be a waste anyway, baths are great.”

“I mean, sure, but they are really time consuming,” Dr. Maheswaran pointed out before turning to Garnet. “My advice is to buy one, that way if for some reason there’s no time for her to take a bath you at least have that option.”

So Garnet agreed and bought one on Amazon. The box arrived on the doorstep two days later and the chair was quickly assembled then shoved in the back of the bathroom closet where Peridot thought it would stay forever.

* * *

 

Peridot didn’t like sick days. Sure, no one particularly loved sick days, but for other kids they usually meant lounging in bed and being nursed back to health by a parent. She never had that luxury. So that mid-October morning, when the ten-year-old woke up with a pounding head ache, she ignored it in favor of getting ready for another day of school. Garnet shot her an odd look when she didn’t complain about taking her vitamins that morning, something that had become near tradition, but didn’t say anything, letting her leave with a quick hug goodbye and making sure her lunch was in her hand.

She thought that the headache would go away, yet as the teacher began the first lesson, it seemed to get worse. When snack time rolled around, Peridot left her lunch bag in her cubby and didn’t join her friends at their typical snack spot by the window, laying down on the bean bags the teacher placed by her bookshelves. No one ever went near them during snack time, the teacher didn’t want anyone’s food to hurt the books, so it was nice and quiet. However, even as she laid down, she began feeling worse, the pain moving to her stomach.

“Peridot?” Ms. Johnson asked, sounding worried as she knelt next to the girl. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, Miss,” Peridot mumbled.

“Hmm,” Ms. Johnson grabbed Peridot’s crutches. “Snack times almost over, would you like help to your seat?”

Usually, Peridot would protest. She hated when people tried to take pity on her because of her leg, but she just didn’t have the energy today. Ms. Johnson helped her over and sat her back down at her desk before beginning the next lesson.

Peridot didn’t even make it to lunch. As Ms. Johnson taught the class, she could feel herself slipping farther and farther away. Despite feeling cold, she could feel the sweat pooling on her forehead. Ms. Johnson noticed Peridot’s far away gaze and her green pallor, quickly shoving a trash bin under Peridot as she became violently sick. Making sure Peridot had a hold of the bin, Ms. Johnson rushed to her phone, calling the nurse to bring a wheelchair.

It wasn’t long before Peridot was laying down on one of the beds in the Nurse’s office as the nurse called Garnet. Once the nurse got off the phone with Garnet, she gave Peridot a peppermint and told her Garnet would be there to pick her up within a half hour. Barely ten minutes passed when Garnet strode into the room. She quickly went to Peridot, kneeling down beside the bed and petting her hair out of her face.

“I hear you aren’t feeling so great,” Garnet said softly.

Peridot tried her best not to cry, but she was so tired and cold and sticky and everything hurt and before she knew it, she was sobbing in Garnet’s arms. If there was one great thing about Garnet’s height, it was that she could carry a ten year old Peridot with ease.

“Shh,” Garnet hushed, rubbing Peridot’s back soothingly. She quickly signed the girl out, slipped the bright green backpack on her arm and grabbed her crutches. “You’ll be okay. We’ll go home, get you cleaned up and then set you up on the couch. How does that sound?”

Peridot was confused, but too tired to question. Garnet quickly buckled Peridot in before tossing the crutches in the backseat. The car ride passed in a blink of an eye as Peridot fell asleep against the car door.

“C’mon, kid,” Garnet sighed, lifting her up out of the seat. She carried her up the stairs, putting her down in front of the bathroom. “Why don’t you take a shower? The chair’s in the back of the closet.”

“I’ll just take a bath,” Peridot quickly muttered as she went to open the door.

“No,” Garnet said firmly. Peridot turned around to ask why, but Garnet beat her to it as she went into Peridot’s room to grab her favorite pair of pajamas. “Peridot, you’re very sick and tired. I don’t want you to accidentally fall asleep or make your fever worse by sitting in a warm bath that long. Take a really quick shower to rinse off, change into your pajamas and I’ll help you back downstairs, okay?”

“G-Garnet, I don’t-”

“Peri, please,” Garnet seemed almost as tired as Peridot when she said this. Head hanging low, Peridot nodded, taking the pajamas and going into the shower.

* * *

 

How could she not have noticed?! Garnet growled to herself as she drove to the elementary school, quite possibly breaking a few traffic rules on her way. A hundred and one degree fever, the nurse said. Acting strangely all day, according to the teacher. Goddammit, how was she so bad at this?! It took her moms not even a month to figure out when Garnet was lying about how she felt regarding being sick. Then again, as a child, she got sick all the time, but still, Peridot had been living with her for months! How she could she not have realized she didn’t feel well?!

Through the entire exchange with the nurse at the school and picking up the sick girl, Garnet felt her own stomach twisting and turning. In the rearview mirror, she could see Peridot asleep against the car door. Poor kid.

Once Peridot agreed to a shower, Garnet headed downstairs, sitting at the kitchen table and putting her head in her hands. She hated feeling sorry for herself, but this…Jasper had even told her to watch out for the flu not even two days ago, because Amethyst caught it. At least Jasper noticed before sending the kid off to school.

It took Garnet a moment to realize her phone was ringing. “Hello?”

“Hey, kid!” Her mom, Ruby, said through the phone.

“Oh,” Garnet rubbed at her eyes. She loved her mom, and her mum, dearly, but she hadn’t been expecting a call. “’What’s up, mom?” She suddenly remembered, “Wait, I thought you and mum were visiting Aunt Leggy and Aunt Navy?”

“We are.”

“…how are you calling me?”

“Your aunts aren’t that crazy!”

“…”

“Okay, yes, they are, I’m hiding in their garden shed. They’re driving me crazy.”

“I don’t know how mum can stand them as much as she does.”

“You’re asking the wrong person, kid.”

“I have a theory it’s because they have your face.”

“Anyway!” Her mom coughed nervously, “since we’re already up here in the North-East-”

“You live in Pennsylvania, mom.”

“-I was thinking Mum and I could just pop in to say ‘hi’.”

“You just want to finally meet Peridot.”

“So badly.”

“She just got sent home from school, she’s really sick, I don’t think it’s the best time.”

Ruby sighed, “Okay, I understand, but we’re meeting her eventually! You can’t keep her from us forever!”

“Wouldn’t try, Mom,” Garnet laughed. Out of nowhere, she heard Peridot begin screaming. “I’ll call you later.”

“Garnet, what was-” Garnet hung up the phone and raced up the stairs two at a time.

The bathroom door was thankfully unlocked as Garnet barged through it, quickly grabbing a towel and pulling a cowering, crying, screaming Peridot out of the shower. Sitting herself on the toilet, Peridot was wrapped in the towel and hugged to Garnet as she kept crying. After a few moments, Garnet realized Peridot was actually saying something through her cries.

“-be good! I promise, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’ll be good, I promise,” Peridot cried, her small body heaving. She was shaking and the water dripping from her hair onto Garnet was freezing.

“You’re okay, Peridot,” Garnet whispered, drying the girl off while simultaneously trying to preserve her modesty. It was a bit harder to help her into her pajamas, but it was done. During the process, Peridot’s heaving sobs became softer cries.

Garnet carried her down the stairs and into the living room, grabbing the fluffiest blanket she owned along the way. Once on the couch, she cocooned herself and Peridot inside the blanket, hugging the girl tightly. With the water dried off, she started to become uncomfortably warm thanks to Peridot’s fever. She sighed, remembering the fever reducer on the shelf behind the bathroom mirror.

“Peridot, I need to go back upstairs to get your medicine, okay?” Peridot shook her head, clutching onto Garnet’s t-shirt.

“It will make you feel a lot better.” The grip tightened.

Ok. Garnet relaxed into the couch, holding Peridot to her. She hadn’t listened about the shower, she didn’t need to fight the sick girl at this very second.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“I don’t like showers.”

“I’m sorry for pressuring you into taking one. I should have listened. Especially since you’re not feeling well.”

“It’s okay,” Peridot nuzzled into Garnet, further curling up to her caretaker. “You didn’t know.”

“Still.”

“…he used to make me take really cold showers when I was bad.”

Garnet wished she could say that one surprised her, but of all the things Peridot admitted to over the past months, that particular punishment ranked pretty low. In her own years in foster care, Garnet saw freezing showers used time and time again, received it a few times, but not enough to be triggered by a regular shower. After a couple discussions similar to this one, Garnet learned the best way to handle it was to continue on as normal. Creating a deal about it always seemed to make Peridot anxious again.

“Do you want to come upstairs with me to grab your medicine?” Garnet asked after Peridot’s warm forehead rubbed her bare skin. “I left it in the bathroom.”

Peridot shook her head.

“I really need to grab it. It will make you feel better quickly.”

“…can I play video games after?”

“After you take your medicine, of course.”

Peridot pulled away, smiling brightly, and rolled over onto unoccupied space of the couch.

Garnet gave her own small smile, going to grab the medicine. One mistake at a time, just keep pushing through.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT


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